Adobe Captivate 4

Problem is, it comes with a setup.exe and several MSIs in the payloads directory. Some of these MSIs are Adobe Air and such, but whenever I try to single out the MSI for Captive, a dialog tells me Please install Adobe Captivate 4 using Setup.exe.

When I run setup.exe, it puts 44 MSIs and MSPs in %WINDIR%\Installer (it is a hidden folder on my VM). This further complicates my quest for having one single MSI. When I packaged Acrobat 9, it had a nice single MSI that I could work with. Also, repackaging (like with a snapshot) is not an option since it comes with MSIs already.

I would really appreciate any insight on this. I have read that the Captivate 4 installer is fundamentally different from Captivate 3, so documentation on 3 hasn't been much help.

Answers

Adobe Captivate 4 installation and uninstallation can be done by playing with XML files Recording an Installation, it is similiar to recording an iss file for installshield packages Step 1: Run setup.exe --record=1 This will run the setup without installing the software and it will record the serial number and the rest of the settings chosen, plus, it will create "Adobe Captivate 4.install.xml" and "Adobe Captivate 4.remove.xml" files in the "C:\Program Files\Common Files\Adobe\Installers" folder. Copy the above two newly created files in the same folder where the setup.exe is and rename them to install.xml and remove.xml respectively. Step 2: Create a file named "application.xml.override" in the "\payloads\AdobeCaptivate4en_US" folder. Paste the following contents in this file: <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<Configuration>
<Payload>
<Data key="Registration">Suppress</Data>
<Data key="EULA">Suppress</Data>
<Data key="Updates">Suppress</Data>
</Payload>
</Configuration>This will suppress the EULA, registration and updates. Step 3: Updating a Serial Key in application.xml.overide <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<Configuration>
<Payload>
<Data key="Serial" protected="0">xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx</Data>
<Data key="Registration">Suppress</Data>
<Data key="EULA">Suppress</Data>
<Data key="Updates">Suppress</Data>
</Payload>
</Configuration>Step 4: Installing the package silently
setup.exe --mode=silent --deploymentFile=install.xml Step 5: Uninstalling the Package silently
Setup.exe --deploymentFile=remove.xml" --mode=silent Silent Installation article : http://www.adobe.com/go/kb405451 White Paper on Adobe Products : http://www.adobe.com/aboutadobe/openoptions/pdfs/manualenterprisedeployment_cs4_help.pdf

Thanks Foleymon, but that is the only resource I have been able to find after doing research. The problem is that following those steps do not yield a single MSI.
I need to do registration suppression, EULA, updates, etc. in Installshield in an MST. The reason I need to use Installshield and edit an MST is because I need to be able to move and delete shortcuts, properties, custom actions and such.
Any suggestions?

those steps do not yield a single MSI. They won't. Adobe has taken the Microsoft shilling and is going with the ridiculous use of patches and XML to drive installations. It's also swallowed the argument that disk space is so cheap, so why not copy every file that the app might EVER need in whatever language with whatever optional features, whether you like it or not.

Folks, we need to vocalise to these apes that this is a major, major step backwards.

Has anyone got this to work unattended? This is one of the worst installers I've have to deal with. Why can't I just have the customization wizard like with Adobe Reader?

We have a volume license key for this, so I can't just give the key and the installer out to the users to install themselves, as a result, I'm stuck since this just doesn't work. I followed the document per Adobe found here: http://www.adobe.com/aboutadobe/openoptions/pdfs/manualenterprisedeployment_cs4_help.pdf <-- Adobe claims that the same doc for Creative Suite can be followed per Captivate

This is what I did, step by step.
1. Extracted the original .exe I got from our Adobe volume license site yielding what would appear to be the same thing as what's on the CD
2. Ran setup.exe --record=1
3. Stepped through the wizard, entering the license key and accepting the EULA.
4. I now have both the "Adobe Captivate 4.install.xml" and "Adobe Captivate 4.remove.xml"
5. I renamed the xml files to install.xml and remove.xml, respectively
6. Copied the xml files into the root folder containing "Setup.exe"
7. Created a "application.xml.override" file containing the following (saved as UTF-8):
[blockquote]<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<Configuration>
<Payload>
<Data key="Registration">Suppress</Data>
<Data key="EULA">-1</Data>
<Data key="Updates">Suppress</Data>
</Payload>
</Configuration>
[/blockquote]**From what I can tell, I should now have what I need to do an unattended install**

8. Tried to install using the following command:
"setup.exe" --deploymentFile="install.xml"

**Completely useless. This simply launched the installer and halted at the product key window**

9. Tried to install using the silent tag with this command:
"setup.exe --mode=silent --deploymentFile="install.xml"

**Again, completely useless. This bombed out at the command line with "Exit Code: 7" **
According to Adobe, this means "Unable to complete the silent workflow"

#1 - When the --record=1 tag "recorded" the installation and created the install.xml file, it added a line which specified the installation media path (which was pointed explicitly to my desktop since that's where I ran setup --record=1 from). I had to remove that line

#2 - It detected that the cpu was 64bit (regardless of the fact that the OS was 32-bit) and appended a line in the install.xml file indicating such. I had to remove that line

#3 - It appears that the installation call is case-sensitive! "Setup.exe" --mode=Silent --deploymentFile="install.xml"

Finally #4 - I wanted this to be "unattended" vs "silent" which apparently can't be done (so I heard). If you want to hide your product key and have the users not be involved with the installation itself, you HAVE to use the silent tag.